By Melissa Clark
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus cooling and chilling
- Rating
- 4(283)
- Notes
- Read community notes
With its bright, fruity acidity and a bittersweet depth, tamarind makes for an especially complex cream pie that’s a bit like Key lime, but with a molasses-like edge. This is a good dessert to prepare ahead: You can bake and chill the pie up to 3 days ahead, then add the whipped cream and orange zest up to 6 hours before serving. Keep the pie refrigerated until just before you cut it.
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Ingredients
Yield:8 servings
- 2cups/170 grams graham cracker crumbs (from about 11 sheets of crackers)
- 6tablespoons/85 grams unsalted butter (¾ stick), melted
- 1large orange
- 4large egg yolks
- 1(14-ounce/400-gram) can sweetened condensed milk
- ½cup/120 milliliters tamarind paste, extract or concentrate (see tip)
- 1 to 2tablespoons lemon or lime juice, to taste (from 1 lemon or lime)
- Pinch of fine sea salt
- 1cup/240 milliliters heavy cream
- 1tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
For the Crust
For the Filling
For the Topping
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
507 calories; 32 grams fat; 17 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 9 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 50 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 36 grams sugars; 8 grams protein; 251 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Prepare the crust: Heat oven to 350 degrees, and place a rack in the center of the oven. In a large bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs and butter. Transfer mixture to a 9-inch pie plate, and press it into an even layer on the bottom and up the sides.
Step
2
Place pie plate on a rimmed baking sheet, and transfer to oven. Bake until golden brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Step
3
Meanwhile, prepare the filling: Halve the orange and squeeze the juice from one half. You should have ¼ cup. If not, squeeze some juice from the other half. Reserve squeezed halves for zesting for garnish.
Step
4
In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat egg yolks until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add condensed milk, scraping sides if needed. Whisk in tamarind and orange juice until just combined, then whisk in the lemon or lime juice and salt.
Step
5
Scrape mixture into cooled pie shell, then return to oven and bake until filling has just set, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.
Step
6
Just before serving, make the topping: In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat together cream and confectioners' sugar until thick and fluffy. Dollop whipped cream on cooled pie. Finely grate the zest from one of the reserved orange halves over the top of the pie, and serve.
Tips
- There are two distinct products that may be labeled tamarind extract, concentrate or paste. One is syrupy and nearly black, without any pulp. (Tamicon tamarind concentrate is one brand.) The other is lighter in color and pulpy; it looks like apple butter. (Swad is one brand.) Try to use the pulpy kind here: It’s fresher-tasting. But if you can get only the concentrate, use ⅓ cup and skip the lemon or lime juice.
- You can also make your own paste out of pure dried tamarind fruit that’s either pulled directly from the pods or sold as a sticky brick. Soak the fruit in boiling water for 30 minutes to 1 hour, then drain. Use your hands or rubber spatula to mash it into a paste. Strain it through a fine mesh sieve. The fruit will vary a lot in its acidity, so use ½ cup of it for the pie, along with as much lemon or lime juice as you need to make you pucker.
Ratings
4
out of 5
283
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Cooking Notes
Su-Mei
Beware when using large amount of tamarind as in this recipe. It will cause diarrhea, known in Asian countries as cure for constipation. You can buy tamarind purée in Indian market.
Patrick
I've been sort of jonesing for a Key Lime pie, but I think I'll try this instead. Ginger snaps instead of graham crackers make a good crumb crust and would probably work nicely here.
Ed
The intro says this can be made up to 3 days ahead, but the directions say 2 hours up to 1 day. From personal experience having made many graham cracker crusts, if you like crunchy crust, make the pie in the morning and eat all of it before bedtime. Otherwise, you will have an increasingly soft and eventually soggy crust. There are good packaged graham cracker crumbs in supermarkets. Using them eliminates the step of "crumbing the crackers." The usual boxed crumbs make exactly three crusts.
Patrick
Made this pie. Delicious. I used Tamicon, which I had on hand, next time I'll add more lime juice as it was not quite tart enough for my taste.
Arao
unless you are planning to the whole pie, it should be ok.
Louise
You soak it in boiling water then get to work getting the paste separated from the seeds.
Laurie
Be sure when you get your tamarind extract that it is not sweetened, it may not be obvious unless you read the ingredients. I'm looking forward to trying this pie.
TG510
One thing I am not clear about is, if I have the “sticky brick” of dried tamarind as mentioned in the notes at the end - how do I turn that into paste? I can’t imagine that I soak it like the fruit. What do I do?
Delgrl
Delicious exactly as specified. The orange zest in the whipped cream topping is essential and took this pie to another level. I used the Swad brand of tamarind paste from the Indian store (also available on amazon)
Alex
I've made this twice. First using tamarind pods. Sweet pods were all I could find and I thought the pie was a bit too sweet but still delicious with a smooth texture. Everyone loved it.For the second time, I couldn't find the block of tamarind so I used a jar of Swad tamarind paste, which was a bit more tart. I substituted lemon juice for the orange juice. This pie was *very* well received. For the third time, I'll use ginger snaps instead of graham crackers.This is a keeper recipe!
ann
Could you substitute pomegranate syrup or molasses for tamarind?
mosaic
I’m not usually a big fan of tamarind. I had some paste left over from hosting guests from Sri Lanka. So, I made this. The only variation was the crust; I didn’t have graham crackers. I used the last of the garam masala ginger spice cookies. It is delicious. So much better than I anticipated. I’ll definitely make this again. Im not so sure that I’d care for the graham cracker crush with this filling though. Subbing crushed coconut cookies would be a really good fit.
Lauren
I thought this was phenomenal! My family devoured it within minutes. It's tart, sweet, and creamy. I used 1/3 C Tamicon tamarind paste, and blood orange juice.
Melissa in Miami
It was great with a store-bought graham cracker crust, and 1/2 cup of Tamicon because I neglected to read that I should have reduced it to 1/3 cup if not using the purée. I only added the orange juice recommended and no lime juice.The store-bought crust stayed very crisp even on the second day in the refrigerator.
Ella G.
I forgot to separate the eggs, but I just let them all get super frothy and it turned out fine. Tasty but a little astringent, probably the whipped cream will help with that
Elizabeth N
Excellent! This was among the 7 pies we had at Thanksgiving and it was the star of the show. Everyone loved it.
HP
Delicious! I did not have graham crackers so used the Trader Joe's triple ginger cookies and it was incredible. Family loved it and I will definitely make this again.
Sara
Maybe a bit more tamarind paste and less salt than I used
ann
has anyone tried making an almond flour crust and would it pair okay with the tamarind flavor?
Eve V
When making a Graham cracker crust I mix crumbs and butter in the pie pan to save dishes. Just as easy or easier.
mosaic
I’m not usually a big fan of tamarind. I had some paste left over from hosting guests from Sri Lanka. So, I made this. The only variation was the crust; I didn’t have graham crackers. I used the last of the garam masala ginger spice cookies. It is delicious. So much better than I anticipated. I’ll definitely make this again. Im not so sure that I’d care for the graham cracker crush with this filling though. Subbing crushed coconut cookies would be a really good fit.
Edie
Made these a second time substituting bittersweet for white chocolate & using 3/4 cup sugar. Great taste
Scott
For some reason my pie came out looking much lighter than the photo (I used the recommended Swad brand so not sure why) but the taste was great! Close to a key lime pie but a bit creamier. I also made this without having a clear idea of what tamarind tasted like so it was a leap of faith but well rewarded.
Magpie
In lockdown, I'm unable to find tamarind paste in any local shop - but I see it on Amazon.co.uk. I would appreciate insight as to whether the Thai Taste brand is the 'pulpy' version, as recommended in the recipe tips. (It's not possible to tell from the photo and the UK importer/distributor isn't able to advise.)
Lesly
HI Melissa- I just wanted to say this recipe was great. I made it yesterday for my daughter's 21st birthday. I did not have quite enough tamarind concentrate so substituted fresh lime juice turned out nicely. Since we are sheltering in place it was nice to make something simple but special for my daughter- and our dessert tastes are so different- I'm chocolate peanut butter person she is the tart/lime/lemon dessert person. It was easy, fast and tasted good. I had never heard of a tamarind pie
beau bumgardner
Really want to try this. I found a 5oz jar of tamarindPaste. How much of it should I use in the pie filling?I’m thinking it must be a concentrate. Need some help. I’m new to this as you can tell.
Catherine Short
I made this pie: very good. One change: I used "animal crackers" as crust base, instead of graham crackers, because I don't love the graham cracker taste; I think it intrudes too much into many chilled pies. I had "brick tamarind," meaning seeds and some fiber along with the hard dried fruit. I soaked the whole mix in boiling water to soften, then ran it through a Foley food mill. A lot of work, but the resulting pulp worked fine in the recipe, with enough extra to freeze for another pie.
Alex
I've made this twice. First using tamarind pods. Sweet pods were all I could find and I thought the pie was a bit too sweet but still delicious with a smooth texture. Everyone loved it.For the second time, I couldn't find the block of tamarind so I used a jar of Swad tamarind paste, which was a bit more tart. I substituted lemon juice for the orange juice. This pie was *very* well received. For the third time, I'll use ginger snaps instead of graham crackers.This is a keeper recipe!
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